1. Interest in Self Sustained Reading
Jody Jarrell
Second Grade
Cedar Ridge Elementary School

2. Background
I found that when I looked around my classroom I noticed that students did not seem that interested in reading. Their attentions were elsewhere in the room.
I wanted to find a way to change students motivation while having to read for a period of thirty minutes each day in my classroom.

3. Background Continued…
Research suggests that a child will pick a book based on interest regardless of his/her reading level (Hunt 96/97)
If the book that a child chooses is above their level and it can retain their interest then they will retain information from the text regardless of level. (Krashen 2003)

4. Research Question
Will students when given a wide thoughtful choice of books based on interest become more motivated to read?

5. Methods Cedar Ridge Elementary Title 1 School 475 Students
57% have Free/Reduced Lunch

6. Methods Participants 10 Second Grade Students Reading Levels
5 Boys & 5 Girls
2 Hispanic (placed out of ESL) & 8 Caucasian
Reading Levels
4 -25/26 and above
4 – between 21/22 & 25/26
2 – Below 21/22

7. Intervention Students read in their groups each day for 30 minutes.
I observed them and took anecdotal notes.
On Mondays, students filled out a book critique form about one book they read during SSR.

8. Data Collection Interest Survey Garfield Reading Survey (Pre & Post)
2 groups formed
Control Group (Animal Books)
Non Control Group (Range of Genres)
Garfield Reading Survey (Pre & Post)
Daily Anecdotal Notes
Monitored Students’ Reading Patterns and Behaviors for 30 minutes each day from 1:50pm – 2:20pm
Book Critique Form

9. Kid Pics. Red Group

10. Kid Pics. Blue Group

11. Garfield Results Pre & Post
Both Groups I felt were not truly honest on the Pre test. As the students filled out the post test, they took more time and really thought about their choices.
Blue Group
Red Group

12. Book Critique Results
Smiley face responses for 4 weeks from each group.
Blue Group
Red (Control) Group

13. Discussion
I found out through my notes that students respond better to books that are about things they are interested in.
Students are better focused while reading and can recall more information about the text they read.
I understand that I need to try and offer books that are interesting to each of my students .

14. References
Dreher, Mariam Jean. (Dec 98/Jan99). Motivating children to read more nonfiction. Reading Teacher, 52 (4), p
Hunt, Jr. Lyman. (96/97). The effect of self-selection, interest, and motivation upon independent, instructional, and frustrational levels. Reading Teacher, 50 (12), p
Krashen, S. (2003). Rewriting History: A Closer Look at Some SSR Studies. Knowledge Quest, 31 (5), p
Krashen, Stephen. (2005). Is in-school free reading good for children? Why the national reading panel report is (still) wrong. Phi Delta Kappan, 86 (6), p